Vanessa Morse/Background
Family History Morses The Morse family was an average muggle family that hadn't produced a witch or wizard in over 200 years. Jessica and Finnick Morse were no exception, having two children, Kurt and Haley Morse. Kurt would grow up and become an attorney, while his sister would go on to be a nurse technician. Kurt eventually met his wife, a history professor at the University of San Fransisco named, Meredith Vanheel. The two would later be married, having their daughter, Vanessa Morse. Meanwhile, Haley would go on to marry a man named Marcus Blair, who although had money didn't seem to have a job. Marcus and Haley would go on to have a daughter a year after, Evelynn Blair. Vanheels Jamison Vanheel was a squib, born from a long line of blood purists on both sides of his family. Jamison was disowned, building a resentment for the magical world, and later marrying his wife until death, Miranda. Miranda and Jamison had two children, Thomas and Meredith Vanheel. Thomas was discovered to be a wizard, and was shunned by both his father, and his sister. It wasn't until years later when he had married a veela named, Farrah, that he and Meredith would begin speaking again. Pre-Letter In America Vanessa grew up in a rather usual, financially above average home. Her father was a lawyer who often hosted lavish house parties, and had her taught to ballroom dance from a young age; while her mother was a history professor, strict and disciplinarian. She was smarter than average, but tended to use her knowledge to manipulate others, rather than for anything she could call productive. In London Eventually she stopped caring about her schoolwork at all, preferring instead to slack off and do what seemed to her to be relevant. Her grades slowly dropped in the courses she didn't care for, but the one thing she kept working her best at volleyball. When Vanessa was seven her family moved from San Fransisco to London. One bright sunny day four years later, she got her invitation to attend Hogwarts. She travelled to France to meet with her muggleborn uncle about the letter, and after he explained quite a bit he gave her a gift. One that had formerly belonged to his late wife, Farah, an unusual cored wand which never properly chose Vanessa, with which she was given only one simple phrase. “Keep it safe.” Post-Letter Pre-Hogwarts After returning home from her visit with her Uncle Thomas in France, Vanessa was sent out shopping in Diagon Alley; only to find her money means nothing in the wizarding world. The overwhelmed girl was guided toward Gringott's, and found herself rather quickly surprised by the workers, goblins. Leaving the bank and heading to the pet store she picked a cat; a rather playful calico she named, Arianna, Airy for short. Wandering toward Florish and Blotts, she was only further overwhelmed by the crowd, though when she went to purchase her texts she was met with a boy with no money. She chose to ignore him, and continue about her day as though she had never met him. Upon leaving there it was off to get robes, and from there she went off to get a cauldron. She couldn't help but giggle thinking of being a witch with a cauldron, but nonetheless she needed one. As she stared around the shop she saw a particularly shiny one, and decided to buy it at quite the hefty price. Vanessa wandered to go buy a quill and parchment, shortly finding herself lost. Upon arrival she saw plenty of charmed quills some wrote what was told to them, some memorized answers, and some had nothing special about them at all. She decided to pick up one of each of the first two, and overloaded on parchment. She bought a few things of ink, and having completed her list wandered along. Eventually she made her way back to her parents, and on the proper day, she packed up and was off to Hogwarts for early camp. Early Summer Camp Vanessa's first night of early camp she decided to practice magic, beginning with Dens Lucet. The spell was unsuccessful, and Vanessa's wand even jumped from her hand to hit her in the face. She then tried the spell Periculum, and upon succeeding blinded herself and her new found friend Noah. After later rolling off the back of a bench, Orwell Galilei and Sage McGovern helped her to the infirmary;where she accidentally angered the purist healer. That night Castor Casseo arrived, and after several arguments with Vanessa over blood the two created a large scene in the courtyard, with several older students in the area ready to fight. Vanessa was pulled from the situation by Marilyn Ambers, a half-vampire who Vanessa later used as an example for how to treat lower years. Later in the week met Amir Williams and Ivy Su, Amir at the time had his face heavily bandaged; per Ivy's warning, and seeing Amir injured, she was convinced to go and trade in the shiny cauldron she had bought. She and Noah went looking for a secret passage later on, Vanessa determined to find a secret training space. Upon finding one they were convinced someone had died in it. At the end they found small stones carving, "V/N June 26th" into them. Vanessa got cuts and bruises and went to the infirmary again where she was given a potion that fixed her up over night. She went to the owlery by accident, where she was attacked by an owl and saved by Meryl Griffith-Webb. She later met Audrey Wolfrum, who after trying to take advantage of Vanessa, picked and lost a fight with Marilyn only moments later. Later on Vanessa met Estelle Martin, who took her on her first broom ride. Summer During the Summer Vanessa met Ariana Havelock, and the pair went shopping for potions supplies. At Slug and Jiggers met Cora Ray, and Sage McGovern, whose pets fought. Vanessa having a past history with Sage quickly grew to resent Cora. She later met Rhett Sterling, who she showed around Diagon Alley and later developed a huge crush on. She and Ariana went on an adventure into the unexplored area, Knockturn Alley. A dark wizard teased them, until suddenly Vanessa rebelled, boasting on herself and her series of muggle accomplishments. Her confidence was broken by the man's retaliatory spells, and the event still haunts her dreams. Later that day she met Professors Star and Seward, and her dreams of becoming an Auror to catch the dark wizard were born. Later in the Summer she was contacted by Ivy Su her new mentor, who was not pleased with her actions, nor having her as a mentee. She went to the Quidditch World Cup between Argentina and China. Vanessa was hooked, particularly on Diego Lopez the Argentinian chaser. After the match she went to the library, where she read up and learned the rules to Quidditch. Rhett managed to find her an amazing Diego Lopez poster, which she kept and later hung up in her room. She ended up in a compartment and boat with all of her closest friends, mesmerized by Rhett more than anything. That night at sorting she nearly cried, and then she ended up in her dream house Slytherin. Vanessa began to practice the very first night in an effort to impress her mentor, a dream that would never happen. First Year The term started and the first class she attended was Herbology 1 with Professor Amelia Mahoney. During class she took responsibility for both a Bubotuber, which later she named Noir, and a Fanged Geranium, which later she named Chompy. Later that night she went back to Professor Mahoney asking her for a third plant, she was granted an Aconite flower, which she later named Amadeus. The following morning she had her first duel with her friend, Ariana Havelock. That same day she sat in the clock tower with Miss Ambers for a long time, finally learning properly about half-breeds, and blood purity. Later that night she dueled Noah Brown, before going to Professor Peter Parcil; she cried to him about upper year purists and he agreed to show her Expelliarmus. Rhett and Vanessa started dating, or at least the eleven year old Hogwarts student's version of dating. Going to do their classes together they started with Herbology before heading to Divination. She predicted for Rhett that whatever he did in his future would be done well and would turn out positive, but when she asked about her and Rhett's relationship, the leaves showed a bouquet, and ants in her tea. Divya Drake promptly fled, and Rhett misread the ants to be birds, this misreading made the tea to have a happy ending instead of a disaster. Vanessa had went to talk to Professor Mahoney again, telling her of her many misfortunes in dueling, and learning about the professor's lost (yet not forgotten) love. Per her recommendation Vanessa tried meditation, but her mind often wandered and caused her difficulty. When Vanessa learned of the crush Divya had on Ariana it wasn't pleasantly, the pink haired friend seeming rather heartbroken. A couple days later she arranged three two on one duels, in an effort to show Ari that she belonged with Divya and not Archie. The duels ended in Vanessa's victory until Div & Ari faced her, her first and only loss of the year. Vanessa was sure they'd never talk to her again and went to hide in her passage until Ariana came and coaxed her out. A few weeks later Vanessa was in her secret passage with Rhett, giving him her Rowena Ravenclaw as an early Christmas present. Little did she know this infected her with a mold spore that would send her into a quarantine. Within quarantine Vanessa was incredibly bored, and constantly ignored by even Rhett who had been in an uncharacteristically bad mood. In quarantine, care packages were distributed from Juno Yoshinaga-Bloodstone sent in a teddy bear in overalls, an effort at sewing a Slytherin snake shown on the front. Vanessa and Noah had their first large scale argument over the House Games only days before the Christmas break, where she ended up leaving him in a point of tears. Just before break Layla Silverwood sent her a letter about meeting up and gave her a coffee scented candle as her secret Santa gift. As Christmas Break rolled around Vanessa stayed at Hogwarts, so she wouldn't get in her pregnant Mom's way. She wrapped and sent out several gifts, a Quidditch poster for Estelle, a stuffed snake and badger for Sage, a book on heroes for Ivy, a book of fairy tales for Divya, a book of Star Wars and an Aussie football rulebook for Ari, chocolate frogs for home, and the first book in the Artemis Fowl series for Rhett. She met Medraut Prince Christmas day, a nice upper year who didn't mind helping her decorate a classroom for Christmas. He was the only person willing to talk to her that was at the castle, and the only reason she wasn't truly alone. She gained new insight on her quest to end purity, as well as a new upper year she respected and would later call many more times to help her along. A few days after meeting Mister Prince she was slipping away to her passage, and was followed by a certain Harrington spirit. Sara slipped in to the passage behind her, and immediately threatened to tell a professor if Vanessa didn't produce her with a boyfriend. Vanessa hurried off in search of a boy to date a ghost, before sending a letter off to Medraut begging him to come save her from her mistake. Vanessa showed him the passage, and in return he worked his charm to get the ghost to not only leave Vanessa alone, but also had somehow convinced her to settle for being friends. One day as Vanessa was minding her own business wandering to the Great Hall, she spotted a monster of flesh and shadows. Voices began ringing in her head and in a panic she cast a Verdillious at it. The monster had already injured half the students present including Ivy who yelled at Vanessa to "use Lumos you incompetent mentee." Doing just that, and along with some quick reflexes she managed to remain unharmed until the professor present threw open the doors killing the monster with sun. Things remained quiet until Valentine's day rolled around, she was given a song by cupid from her dear Rhett, and sent one to Ivy, Medraut, Rhett, and herself. The day went smoothly until she ran into Christine Marilyn and Calypso Casseo on the stairs. Vanessa and Calypso were both shot by cupid; Vanessa became obsessed with Calypso, who had become obsessed with Cupid. Upon being released Vanessa's ability to speak romantically of Calypso, along with Christine being sure that she liked Calypso, caused Vanessa to question how she looked at girls. She slowly developed a squish for just about everyone in her life. (These feelings slowly faded out of course) Just as things seemed to be calming down Vanessa got an owl from Divya telling her to hurry to the Divination Tower. Upon arriving she found Juno thrashing about at the bottom screaming about her purse (which had been cursed) being taken from her by Div. Vanessa proposed they body-bind Juno and handle the purse after, much to the objection of the group. The group also refused to let Vanessa jinx Juno to keep her still. The mounting frustrations led to a rift between Vanessa and her friends, and to get around it Vanessa hid behind the name of her childhood Muggle best friend Hannah Collins. She wrote letters to anyone who would reply and seldom left the Slytherin dorms. On one of her trips for food she ran in to Ariana, and the two had their first serious fight. Vanessa refused to duel, only further building tension between the two as Vanessa felt her voice being ignored by her friends. Vanessa began to make money using the Setis and Colovaria Charms in order to style hair, and upon a session with Sunny she made fifteen Sickles doing so. Although it has no major impact it is worth noting, when the centaur was in the courtyard Vanessa was in the courtyard as well but chose to not follow it to the mountain path. Later on as Vanessa wrote a letter home, the purist she had beaten previously in the year, Christopher Engal came through. The two had a rather pleasant talk, and after a debate on how to handle the shadow monster he encouraged her to be a leader. Heading to Professor Star to discuss purity and dueling she was told by Star that if she gave in to stop dueling because of others they had taken what will she had. A truly shaking moment that inspired Vanessa to continue with her passions. In reply to a post on the bulletin board for students Vanessa met Christine Marilyn down by the lake. Christine took her on her broom over to float above the lake, despite Vanessa ademently refusing. With a lot of coaxing, and a mention of Marilyn, Vanessa finally jumped; after a failed cast she hit the water, and Christine lost control of her broom. The horrified Vanessa slowly made her way to the shore where Christine dried her before they parted ways. Shortly after she began to notice her wand beginning to resist her casting, as she began to practice Maneo with Ivy. The issues persisted as she headed into the finals of the First Year House Games Dueling against Noah. The match ended in a win much to her thrill, though the house still lost the House Cup to Ravenclaw. The first Summer Camper of the year arrived shortly after, Vanessa found herself reflecting upon meeting the girl and contemplating her own time through the year. Vanessa realized something about Hogwarts was capable of ruining children's minds, and vowed to protect the next year's students. Shortly after she met Lucio, a rising first year, homophobic, enthusiastic, muggle born boy who was amazed by what she could do, dueling, and plants. She took him as her unofficial mentee vowing to do better for him than Ivy had done for her. She would later save him from being killed by the LGBTQ+ of the school, cheer him up multiple times, and buy him an owl. Later Vanessa finally followed up with Professor Mahoney on the fourth plant she had begged for. Due to Vanessa's lack of experience she wasn't allowed to care for the Devil's Snare, but was given a Chinese Chomping Cabbage which she has yet to name. Professor Mahoney took Vanessa to see the Devil's Snare under the protection of her Lumos Numerosa and Lumos Solem. Vanessa found herself fascinated and asked the professor if any items could have been lost, such as a coin purse. The things inside were amazing, a thin gold bracelet with a heart charm and ruby offset, a fancy enscribed key, ten galleons, and a less amazing wet parchment. The two left and Vanessa set out to find the owner, as a dueling request came from her best friend Ariana. The duel went as planned on her birthday, until suddenly Vanessa's wand launched back a variety of Jinxes and Expelliarmus casts back at her before snapping. A defeated mess she went yet again to Professor Mahoney who reassured her that it was normal before taking Vanessa, Noah, Divya, Rhett, Ariana, and herself to Ollivander's in Diagon Alley. After several horrifying wands, Vanessa finally had a wand choose her, Dragon heartstring, eleven and a half inches, rigid, of Aspen wood. Later that night Vanessa got four owls; the first from Medraut carried with it a necklace of an unenchanted runic symbol, the second from Christopher (who later became Vanessa's dueling second) carried a small white gold ring, engraved with the phrase 'Talliam Virtus mea erit in Finibus Inimicorum Meorum Album'. (The inscription roughly translates to 'The tally of mine virtue shall be the list of my foes'.) Afterwards came the owls from her family, from her magical uncle she recieved a small mirror for her foot locker, with one small diamond at each corner. From her parents she recieved three small notebooks. Vanessa later met up with Ariana again, this time in an abandon classroom. After another heated argument that ended with both girls in tears Vanessa was sure Ari would never speak to her again. Upon returning home Vanessa's parents were thrilled, and informed her they would be having another party; this party had become grounds to postpone her trip with Sage to America to visit Hannah. The party would be again be postponed as Vanessa came down with a fever. As all of this was happening all magical items are kept in a trunk by the door, with the simple reasoning to divide the worlds. Vanessa was free to take them back as she left for Diagon, but otherwise they are to never leave the trunk. Vanessa left that day with fifteen galleons and fifteen sickles of her own, which her parents had agreed to match so Vanessa could get a broom. Having been torn between the Firebolt or a world class broom she flipped a coin, finally deciding on a Firebolt as she left happily. After leaving Vanessa ran into her friend Aidan Wyatte who had helped her as she hid behind her alias, and his father. Second Year After doing her best to make Aidan to be more impresssive to his father, she returned home, where she remained until the party. After the party she went to speak to Professor Hannah Liliaceae in order to get permission to care for the Devil’s Snare, and picking up tape and matches just in case something ever went wrong. Early in the year Vanessa tried for the house Quidditch team, securing herself a position as one of the chasers. Her mentee, Lucio Tidal, ended up expelled. As a result Vanessa began to blame herself for being a bad mentor. She became more stiff, and set out in search of other first years she could care for, happening across Ara Abrasia, Mirage Lilacfeather, and Shaw Haller. She met Ara at the ball as she waited for her boyfriend, quickly bonding over Herbology. Taking her as her own mentee and taking her for a dance before Rhett arrived. Rhett and Vanessa would end up in a debate over if someone could return to the muggle world, resulting in tension, and Rhett being slapped. Later on she met Dai Swelyn, and had officially met her older match. The boy, a writer, charmer, prefect, Setis master, and unbeknownst to her Alarte Ascendare master, drove her insane. His Auroring dreams only bothered her further, he was everything she had wanted and given up on. Her mentee Ara popped up at just the wrong moment, assuming there was something between the two. Later the two would find themselves delivering love letters off to the Hufflepuff prefect, Millie Harrod, before fading from his love affairs. A few days later the food in the Great Hall would wind up poisoned. Hufflepuffs growing aggressive, Ravenclaws relaxing, Slytherins being brave, and Gryffindors… As a result she would end up in her first duel of the new year, Vanessa happened across her dear friend Sage, under the influence of poisoning, attacking a first year. Vanessa promptly stepped in defeating her in two consecutive duels, before taking her for medical care. She took up care for the Devil’s Snare, which she named Sierra, as well as her Mandrake, Destiny. The Mandrake started in relatively good health, growing into a moody teen, and eventually a struggling adult. Sierra scarred Vanessa’s ankles, and her right wrist, breaking her ankle and striking a fear of combat within her. Around Christmas her family was finally together again. Vanessa made a trip into Knockturn Alley, swiftly stopped by her Uncle Marcus, though of course she holds no memory of such an event. At some point Mirage had decided to open up to Vanessa about her gender, catching Vanessa off guard. She wasn't entirely sure what to do, choosing instead to ignore the topic. The house team placed third in Quidditch, the loss weighing heavily on her, and pushing her to work harder. During Defense Against the Dark Arts near the end of the year the students were placed into pairs for dueling practice, and as fate would have it Vanessa and Chris ended up in a duel. Despite losing, she did not retaliate any further, choosing instead to gracefully go about her Easter. Later on the egg hunt caused her to return and attack the boy, fleeing with his wand before going to Professor Morton Mallory's office. Her and Professor Morton Mallory got into an argument over handling others' wands rather quickly, resulting in a stray offensive spell being cast at the professor, and detention for Vanessa. Third Year Vanessa again returned home to America to visit Hannah, also being asked by her cousin Annelyse to pick up a book for her from an area in California known as The Downside. The Downside was similar to Knockturn Alley in every way, but instead of being hidden in plain sight was instead hidden underground. While in The Downside she met a rather strange man, a man who gave her a notebook with instructions for a very..different spell. Obsideo, the strangulation curse, she also got to see it's power first hand, almost immediately disarming the man, yet it was already too late. That day Vanessa had seen death, and with it later came thestrals. When Vanessa finally returned to school, she later got word that Marilyn Ambers had died in a car accident, and Vanessa had quickly retracted into studying to solve her issues. Studying Obsideo, Mermish, creatures, and most of all trying to convince herself that she wasn't after power in her studies. Vanessa later happened across a passage behind a painting with some others, as they entered they found the amoracann, a small armadillo like creature that had lived in the passage for centuries. Vanessa began to lose her calm in the room, hearing the voices of those she had looked up to echoing horribly in her ears, Marilyn's screams, Medraut's disappointment, all driving her beyond her breaking point. She ended up killing the amoracann, plants that were in the room, and more, ending up poisoned and injured before they escaped. Vanessa learned of the recipe for both polyjuice potion and dogbane poison within the cave, though she is personally unable to brew either. By the end of the year she had become a master of the Obsideo curse. One day as she saw three first years entering Knockturn Alley, she went in after them to save them, instead finding them being hassled by an adult wizard. Though Vanessa was defeated when she intervened, she managed to cast a quick Obsideo, the man was injured and ended up fleeing rather than fighting. Vanessa was left horrified by what she'd done, and in the end set out to her research because of it. She began confronting Mike Wang over his role as captain on the QUidditch team after another third place. Fourth Year Starting Vanessa's fourth year, she found an egg out in the courtyard, almost double the size of a chicken's egg. When it eventually hatched three months later it was revealed to be that of a diricawl, and with that Vanessa found her newest companion, Theodore. She also served as mentor to the first year, Evander Greywood, who although she didn't see often seemed to be doing well despite her being rather absent. At some point within the first term, Vanessa also found it in herself to come clean to Ariana about Obsideo, the situation in the Summer, and all the guilt she'd been feeling. In that conversation the idea came for Vanessa to invent a counter-curse, something to fix the damage caused by the curse itself. She snuck into the restricted section of the library seeking knowledge, and in the end stole a diary of a girl named Jane. Jane was a student at Hogwarts in 1579-1586 and the original inventor of the Obsideo curse, whose notes Vanessa used to invent Munda Reatus, the Obsideo counter-curse. She still keeps the diary, reading from it nightly and privately considering Jane to be a friend, despite her invention of Obsideo, and her extensive knowledge of dementors...as well as a dementor communication spell. Vanessa took over as Quidditch captain after Mike's death, and the team placed first place. Fifth Year Vanessa's fifth year was rather quiet for the most part, she tended to keep to her own, staying true to her books instead of interacting with those around her. She was caught in her fifth year submitting an essay for History of Magic written entirely in Mermish, and as a result ended up with Professor Fitzgerald as a tutor, and being forced to study in the class. Along with this extra study, she began to practice Cedamus Inimicum, eventually gaining a mantle state, and beginning to plan for the day she could encounter a dementor, in hopes that it could tell her how to bring Jane from the dead. At some point in the late year, Vanessa began to work in an enchanting shop in Hogsmeade known as Churchill's Cherished Chronographs, while mostly cleaning, she still remained dilligent in her persuit of knowledge. Come the end of the year, she and her cousins, Evelynn and Annelyse, placed a spell on their Uncle Thomas, and Ariana, slipping out to visit the city of Paris, where in the catacombs Vanessa would encounter a dementor. Sixth Year Vanessa's sixth year, she was scouted to play for the Argentinian Quidditch team, alongside Diego Lopez. Shortly after, when first encountering her mentee, Savannah Rey, she would end up in a duel with her classmate, Valeran Levi, resulting in her being placed in detention for the duration of the term by Professor Pythia Quigley. She spent her time enchanting, and finally came to the conclusion the only way to revive Jane was with the Resurrection Stone. She began extensive research into the family trees of wix, eventually believing it found with the Perevells, before it was lost in the Gaunts. Seventh Year Her seventh year became obsessed with research, absorbing her life into locating the stone. When all hope was lost, she broke into Headmaster Newman's office, and used the Hogwarts Pensieve to confirm the stone was on campus in Professor Dumbledore's possession. She concluded he must have used it to revive Harry Potter in the war, and that somehow it had been given to Elizabeth Bathory eight years before, being in her possession now, She proceeded to track down wandmakers, before finally recieving a lead about an alchemist in Russia. Post-Graduation A year Vanessa lives in Knockturn Alley, during the offseason, she works in Churchill's Cherished Chronographs, making stock models for sale and managing the shop. She played in the preseason for Argentina, before being benched for the foreseeable future. She returned home, constantly visiting a bookstore run by a half-troll named Benjamin in Knockturn to steak from him, but otherwise living a rather simple life in a flat with Ariana. She is still determined to get the Resurrection Stone, but wants to be sure that if she doesn't return there is a life in place for Ari.